Archive for March 2009

New York is known for all things big: the Empire State Building, Donald Trump’s ego, Babe Ruth’s stomach. But the Gotham baseball scene has witnessed its fair share of quality little guys. They’re not Oompa-Loompas or Munchkins (and no, they’re not made of wood, as my daughter once thought of the little people in the Wizard of Oz), but they are under six-feet tall. They may be short in stature, but they played their way into our hearts. See how many of these little guys you can name. The answers will be posted tomorrow.

1. He played shortstop and second base for the Yankees in the early 1990s before he was traded to Houston for Xavier Hernandez.

2. His major league career ended when he was body slammed by Pirates catcher Ed Ott.

Brandon Rush (Pacers)- Rush has scored in double-figures in five straight games and has started the past four. He has scored 29 points in each of his last two games while making five three-pointers. As a starter he also has averaged seven rebounds and shot 51% from the field. G Marquis Daniels could miss the rest of the season with an injured wrist.

Anthony Morrow (Warriors)- Morrow has scored 23.5 points and made seven three pointers his past two games. He is shooting a league best 49.6% from behind the arc and has made at least one three pointer in 14 his last 17 games. G Stephen Jackson is expected to miss the team’s final nine games with an injured toe.

Honorable mention: Gilbert Arenas (Wizards)…Not playing back to back games or away games

This past week has proven that the Rangers have a multiple personality problem. Are they:

a) The John Tortorella-inspired team, playing with aggressiveness and gumption, which we saw vs. Buffalo?

b) The lifeless zombies we saw against Ottawa?

c) The tough, shutdown, but low-scoring team we saw against Minnesota?

d) The sloppy disaster we saw last night against Atlanta?

One night they play with passion and do the little things right, the next, they’re reverting to their old ways, not doing anything right and completely falling apart, letting a sure victory slide right out of their hands. Even Tortorella’s a mixed bag – going from inspiritional genious one game, pushing all the right buttons, to questionable moves last night (his choice of shootout players, ice time, etc.). The power play mainly has one personality, and that one is bad. The Rnagers somehow scored three power play goals against Atlanta (in eight chances), but still couldn’t score when they needed it most – in crunch time. They can’t put teams away. Of course, they don’t have …

It looks like we’re going to have to go with an all-Schmuck edition again. The local teams went a combined 4-12-1 this week. The only positive moment happened when the Knicks honored their past with a ceremony on Monday night. A player from each decade was chosen to represent the franchise’s history: Carl Braun (1940s), Richie Guerin (1950s), Willis Reed (1960s), Walt Frazier (1970s), Bernard King (1980s) and Patrick Ewing (1990s). The team hasn’t voted on a player for the double aughts yet because the decade hasn’t ended, but the end can’t come soon enough for the Knicks. Who should they pick? Jerome James? Eddy Curry? Stephon Marbury? Maybe the best representative of this hapless decade for the Knicks would be Anucha Browne-Sanders. Though these past eight years should most likely never be honored. Ever. Please. As always, there’s no prize for the Hot Stove Schmuck of the Week.

Winner

Al Harrington: Not again! Harrington hung on to the rim too long after a dunk, and was whistled for a technical, which caused overtime, …

Keyon Dooling (Nets)- Dooling has started the past four games with PG Devin Hariss sidelined with a shoulder injury. Last week as the starting PG he averaged 15.8 points, 6.5 assists and shot 60% from the field in four games. Dooling recorded season-highs in minutes (40:42) and points (19) against the Cavs yesterday.

Antoine Wright (Mavs)- Wright has been in the starting lineup since January 6th. He has averaged 12 points and made five three-pointers over this past five games. He played a season-high (40:23) minutes against the Hawks last Thursday.

Honorable mention: Arron Afflalo (Pistons)

Forwards

Julian Wright (Hornets)- Wright has been in the starting lineup since March 5th. He blocked a season high four shots vs. the Warriors yesterday. The second-year player scored eight points, pulled down seven boards and recorded four steals against the Grizzlies last Friday.

“Sean gets the puck and five guys on the other team want to kill him.” – Scott Gomez

It’s good to finally have a player on the Rangers you can say that about. Sean Avery’s playing the role of villain on the ice and is quiet as a mouse off it. I was lukewarm on his return to the Rangers, worried that the circus he brings with him would evershadow everything else, but he’s saving his agitation for the games, which is where it belongs. Every player on the opposing team is going out of his way to pummel him, but he’s keeping his head and drawing penalties. Of course, only about one in three are called against him, but that’s life for Avery. He can get elbowed in the face in Montreal right in front of a referee without a whistle blowing, but the officials have no choice but to call some of the punishment he takes. And he’s scoring – four goals, one assist in seven games since …

This was a week of records being broken, World Baseball Classic excitement and drinking until you turned green on St. Patrick’s Day, but it may have all been overshadowed by the weirdness that is Alex Rodriguez. Pictures were released of him pretty much making out with himself and rolling around on a mattress. Did he finally sweep himself off his feet? What’s next? Cloning? Maybe he got divorced so he can marry himself. He’s just getting more and more bizarre. “What was he thinking?” and “A-Rod” go to together like peanut butter and jelly these days. This week’s Hot Stove Player of the Week, Martin Brodeur, has turned down his prize: “I don’t need a prize. Just working and living in New Jersey is an award in and of itself.”

Winner

Martin Brodeur: The Devils goalie tied Patrick Roy’s all-time wins record on Saturday in his hometwon of Montreal and then broke it in New Jersey on Tuesday night. Next up is the all-time shutouts record, currently held by Terry Sawchuk, though it …

The Mets and Phillies hate each other. Finally. It took about 45 years for these division rivals to work up a good antipathy for each other, and it’s about time. For years, Philadelphians hated the Phillies more than New Yorkers did. Players of today are way too friendly with each other, with their loyalty to the player’s union seeming to come before all others. Ty Cobb would be rolling over in his grave if he saw the breezy way the players act toward each other. Frank Robinson’s rolling over in his recliner as we speak. At long last we’ve got some good old-fashioned hatred.

The Mets steamrolled over the Phillies in 2006, and then the following spring training Jimmy Rollins shot off the “We’re the Team to Beat” slogan heard round the world. He proved to be right, as the Phils won the division, due to the Mets’ collapse heard round the world. Last spring training, Carlos Beltran said, “Tell Jimmy Rollins we’re the team to beat this year.” He was …

On one hand, he’s the best young quarterback in the league. He’s got an accurate cannon for an arm and he can complete passes in the most epic weather conditions. Many feel that Cutler is the type of talent rarely seen in the NFL.

On the other hand, Jay Cutler is a jackass. At least he seems like one to those of us who don’t know him personally but read his stupid comments in the papers and hear him on TV. He just comes off as an egotistical tool.

That’s where we are right now. Possibly the best quarterback in the game is begging to get out of Denver and the Jets have a giant ? under center. Cutler’s an obvious solution if he didn’t resemble a smarmy used car sales man.

Since day 1, Rex Ryan has been adament that the Jet’s “quarterback of the future” is already on the roster. That was before whatever happened between the Bronco’s and …

To me, I don't see how anyone could make the argument that this year's squad has worse talent than last year's. Gomez, Zherdev, Antropov, Mara for Gaborik, Prospal, Anisimov, Del Zotto. That's a no-brainer to me. If we can agree to that, then we can forget about Sather for the time-being, and there really are […]

I am one of the crazy few who thinks LT is a better fit here than TJ... Assuming of course that Shonn Greene is the new sheriff in town. Neither Greene nor Jones are the threat out of the backfield that LT is, even at this advanced stage in his career. The crux of it, […]

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